In the context of the present invention the term “hearing device” refers to hearing aids (alternatively called hearing instruments or hearing prostheses) used to compensate hearing impairments of hard of hearing persons as well as audio and communication devices used to provide sound signals to persons with normal hearing capability, e.g. in order to improve hearing in harsh acoustic surroundings. Hearing devices can be adapted to be worn at the ear, behind the ear or in the ear canal of a user, and for certain applications can also be anchored to or implanted into a user's head.
Hearing devices are normally adjusted to the individual needs of a user in a hearing device professional's office. This adjustment process is typically referred to as hearing device “fitting” and is usually performed by a trained specialist, such as for instance a hearing health care professional, e.g. a hearing device dispenser or an audiologist, who is commonly referred to as the “fitter”. The term “fitting” usually encompasses both of the following two tasks. On the one hand the physical customisation of the hearing device to the geometry of the user's individual ear and/or ear canal, in order to provide a hearing device which is appropriately shaped and sized to assure good wearing comfort and optimal acoustic coupling. On the other hand the audio signal processing of the hearing device must be adapted such that it meets the specific needs and requirements of the user, e.g. to compensate the user's hearing deficiency to the best possible degree or to improve as much as possible his hearing capability in difficult listening situations. In the context of the present invention, we will be dealing with the latter issue of adjusting the settings associated with the processing performed by the hearing device. This processing will be referred to as “hearing loss compensation signal processing” within the context of the present invention, but this term is also meant to encompass “hearing improvement signal processing” as applied in a hearing device for a user with normal hearing capability, for instance to enhance his/her hearing capability in extreme acoustic circumstances.
Hearing device fitting is commonly a very cumbersome process, requiring multiple sessions with the fitter in order to fine tune the settings of the hearing device or hearing devices in the case of a “binaural fitting”, i.e. when the user is equipped with a hearing device at both ears, to the user's specific needs and requirements. Fitting is therefore a very time consuming and costly undertaking. A possible solution to eliminate the cost and time involved for the user with having to travel to the fitter's office several times is to perform remote fitting, where the fitter is at his office and the user is located at a remote location, e.g. at home. To achieve this one or more communication links between the fitter and the user have to be established in order to enable both verbal communication between the fitter and the user as well as to possibly provide a means for programming the hearing device(s), e.g. to load new settings or a new software module into the memory of the hearing device(s).
A number of technical solutions for providing a link to a hearing device such that remote fitting becomes possible are known. In this respect reference is made to the following prior art publications. WO 00/22874 A2 discloses a fitting system for hearing devices where the input device is a mobile telephone. WO 02/35884 A2 discloses a method and system for remotely upgrading a hearing aid device by downloading software resources over a network from a remote server to a local client. WO 2004/086816 A1 discloses a system and a method for providing a talk-over functionality from an attendant located in one room to a hearing aid user located in another room.
However, a major problem of remote fitting is the lack of physical presence of the fitter, since the voice of the fitter plays the role of an acoustic benchmark with regard to loudness, timbre and intelligibility. In a remote fitting session where the fitter's voice is only provided via telephone or a telephone-like connection this kind of acoustic benchmark is effectively not available.